


For the Love of their Ship

by stormy1x2



Category: One Piece
Genre: During the Time Skip, Gardens & Gardening, Nakamaship, Sabaody Archipelago, Spirits, klabauterman, nami's orange trees, ships need to be maintained over a 2 year period
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29237769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1x2/pseuds/stormy1x2
Summary: Shakky smiled and pressed her hand lightly against the brightly varnished wood. “It’s a beautiful day today, Sunny-chan.”
Comments: 4
Kudos: 38





	For the Love of their Ship

* * *

There was no getting around it, really. 

Duval-chan and his gang may protect the Sunny from Marines, tourists and gawkers, and Kuma-chan strategically removed the pirates and bounty hunters, but Shakky took it upon herself to do a weekly inspection of the Thousand Sunny.

Such a beautiful ship he is, and yes, Shakky is well-aware it’s a he even though most ships are female. Monkey-chan didn’t even have to tell her - the moment Shakky stood in front of the gleaming carrack for the very first time (really, Franky-chan had the most amazing talent. Tom-chan must be so proud from where he must be watching aboard the Flying Dutchman), she could feel a soft breeze waft through the rigging, tugging on the ends of her hair.

A greeting. Shakky smiled and pressed her hand lightly against the brightly varnished wood. “It’s a beautiful day today, Sunny-chan.”

There’s an odd sound in the air, like a bell tinkling off in the distance, but Shakky’s smile grew wider as she heard it, and she bent her head in acknowledgment before gripping the rope ladder that Rayleigh had hung for her. 

Not that she needed it - she may be reaching Garp-chan’s age (not that many people knew that) but she’s still in excellent shape. She could have leaped all the way up with a small burst of haki, but there were still gawkers around, even if the constant presence of Kuma-chan kept them a respectful distance back.

(She tried to talk to Kuma-chan after he had come to them and Rayleigh had left to find Monkey-chan immediately after the war but Kuma’s replies had suddenly become short and somewhat robotic even if his voice was still as low and melodic as ever. It was almost like whatever humanity was left in him was solely devoted to the single task of protecting the ship and while that was indeed a noble thing, it also made her very, very sad.)

As always, the first thing she did was inspect the deck. Not like Rayleigh, of course - on his rare visits from Monkey-chan’s training, he checked for warped floorboards, nicks and damage that could be a result of the weather (Kuma-chan and Duval-chan ensured nothing else would ever be the cause), but Shakky had her own list to go through. The first was always the lawn deck and the tree growing there.

It was one of her favorite parts of the Sunny (the second being the Aquarium bar. If it didn’t mean an entire renovation of her place if not an all-out move to a new location, Shakky would commission Franky to build one for her). The grass was a hardy variety found on many islands in the Grand Line, but this particular blue-green vibrancy was from Water 7, naturally. It didn’t require much upkeep and was extremely slow growing but once a month she would take a small push-mower to it, just to ensure it stayed that way. 

The sluice drains hiding under the railings were mostly clear, and she took a few moments to wipe away what sludge was left after the rains the day before. If they weren’t kept uncluttered, the water could back up and turn the lawn into a grassy pool, which could lead to rotting and other unpleasant things. If Franky-chan was anything like dear Tom-chan, he would be heartbroken to come back to such damage and Shakky wouldn’t allow that. 

Cleanup only took a minute, and then she’s inspecting the tree with its attached swing. Rayleigh had come back a few months ago for a quick visit and an update (not to mention a very romantic weekend but that was another story) and before he left to return to Ruskaina, he had replaced the swing’s ropes, noting that they were rotting a bit at the base where the seat was tied. Shakky surmised that Monkey-chan, Usopp-chan and Chopper-chan played with it quite a bit. 

The tree was also a hardy breed. Much like the grass, it was a Water 7 variety, well used to high salt content in the water and having reached its peak height. Franky-chan or one of the other shipwrights must have found the perfect tree and dug it up specifically for this, and the thought pleased her greatly. Like everything else on the Sunny, it’s appearance on the ship could be nothing but an act of love; otherwise it would have been seen as a ridiculous expense and too high-maintenance. She could count on one hand the number of ships she’d seen in the last decade or so that had living, thriving greenery on board that wasn’t confined to a greenhouse or resigned to grow lights instead of the natural rays of the sun.

Which led to the main reason she was here today. She would make a cursory inspection of the galley later (she wasn’t too worried - shortly after Luffy’s message appeared in the newspapers, Duval had sent some of his men to clean and empty the fridge, cupboards - and once Shakky received confirmation from Rayleigh via his den den mushi, they had also emptied the storage compartments and the pantry. Shakky had given most of their food away to locals who needed it, and did the same with some of the dry goods. The frozen stuff went into her own freezer and she used it for cheap meals for people who couldn’t afford anything else. Rayleigh said that Luffy told him Sanji would be happy that everything got used), and their treasury had been gathered, packed into crates and hidden away in her own storage area under her bar, so that was fine as well. 

The aquarium had been emptied in a fashion similar to their pantry (mostly given away) and Duval had shown her a small cupboard near the aquarium’s hatch that held small, white and blue blocks that crumbled easily under firm pressure. A piece of canvas nailed inside the door told them to drop a block inside the aquarium at least once a month to help keep the water clean.

But on the top level, nestled snugly above the galley in neat boxes, were the orange trees that belonged to Nami-chan, and had amazingly survived the trip through the Grand Line despite obviously being of East Blue stock.

Shakky stood in front of the trees and inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of citrus, soil and greenery. The orange trees were smaller than other Blue variants, but the fruits, oh, the _fruits_ …. Shakky had never tasted such exquisite mikans before. Firm, almost icy crisp, filled with a tart, juicy sweetness that just woke up your tastebuds and made them sing. 

(It was almost enough to make her want to order some from Nami’s homeland. Shakky had already made a note for herself to ask for Nami-chan’s island details when they returned.)

While the Strawhats had seen Nami’s trees as sacred, and something never to touch without explicit consent from the temperamental navigator, Shakky had taken a more pragmatic approach to them since the first time she boarded the Sunny and found hoards of rotting tangerines laying in heaps around the boxes that were overgrown and low on soil thanks to the rains.

Shakky had immediately replenished the soil, trimmed and pruned the branches, picked the ripe ones to set aside in a small basket she had found under the table Robin-chan’s flower beds were layered on, and then cleaned up the rotting fruit, tossing them into the composter (also hidden under the tables). It had taken some sweeping, some mopping and a bit of elbow grease to clear the deck as best she could but she could easily tell that Franky might remove a few boards and replace them. Adam’s Wood was waterproof and incredibly strong - but like everything else, it could fall prey to stains, especially stains that had time to set. 

With a weekly visit though, Shakky could prevent additional ones at least. Shakky made sure to inspect the branches, check for insects, check the PH levels (she was incredibly glad to find a small ‘tree-keeping kit’ - as she called it - behind the trees themselves. A small box with several bottles of plant food and bug killers, a PH-testing kit, several pairs of gloves, shears, hand-held clippers and hand-written notes that must have been for her crewmates to use when she was out of commission for whatever reason), and pick any ripe mikans so they wouldn’t rot on the trees, fall and create another mess for her to clean up.

It was a relaxing chore for her. The scent of mikans, the fresh air swirling easily around her, especially at that height, the faint bursts of popping bubbles of the archipelago, the sound of the Strawhat’s jolly roger flapping briskly in the breeze, the steady clip-clip-clip as she found and removed the ripe fruit and set them carefully in the padded basket… Shakky wiped a few beads of sweat away from her forehead as she finished. The chore wasn’t difficult by any means but the sun was warm and the trees had the best spot on the Sunny to catch all available light.

A slight giggle echoed amongst the sails. Shakky blinked, and then smiled as the wind seemed to pick up for a brief moment - just enough to lift a slightly thicker branch to reveal one more mikan she had somehow missed, hidden away behind the bushy boughs. 

“Thank you, Lion-chan,” she murmured as she picked the final fruit and crouched down to put the clippers back in the box. She took a moment to kiss the tips of her fingers and press them into the sun-warmed wood under her feet. “You’re an excellent guardian.”

The giggle echoed again, and Shakky knew she wasn’t imagining the slight press against her fingers as she stood back up. As an information-broker, Shakky had excellent Observation Haki - and enough life experience to know when a true ship was not just a ship.

She may have told Monkey-chan she was a fan because of his determination to be free as the Pirate King, but what had cemented her thoughts on them all was the presence of Sunny’s Klabautermann.

She hadn’t said anything though. Monkey-chan and Franky-chan had told her about Going Merry - how they had heard her voice at the very end, and another reason why Franky had known there was no saving her after Usopp had told him what he’d seen in their previous travels. Franky seemed to be under the impression that a Klabautermann was a negative thing - not bad, just negative, because it meant a ship’s time was almost up.

Oh, Franky was probably one of the most creative and innovative shipwrights the world would ever see and he might have been one of the oldest members of the crew - but compared to her, he was still just a baby when it came to some things. It was true you would only truly see or clearly hear a Klabautermann when the ship had taken on catastrophic injury - but if a ship was loved and respected and treated as an additional member of the crew rather than just a tool or mode of transport, the ship’s spirit would develop slowly over time, brought into life by love, sweat, tears and blood. Battles on the Grand Line took care of most of that, but the most important thing - love - that was something else, and not something all sailors - pirates, marines or other - understood. 

It was easy to say one loved their ship. It was something else altogether to show and prove it on a daily basis, and so many people didn’t. Shakky had seen many people profess to love their ship, but that didn’t stop them from idly carving notches out of boredom or conquests, or scratching the paint and leaving it because ‘it wasn’t a big deal’ and ‘no one would care’.

Comparatively...it was so easy to see that the Thousand Sunny was loved. 

A new ship, barely a year old, and already his spirit was alive and growing. She could see it in the immaculate condition of the ship when she’d first seen it. This ship had already been through the Floridian Triangle, had been battered in trapped waters around Thriller Bark, could fly through the air and easily take the impact of the landing - and yet there were no splinters in the deck or the hull. Thousand Sunny was brightly painted, in colors that should have faded quickly under the salt and sun, should have been covered in scrapes and scratches from every-day living - but it wasn’t.

Part of it was definitely due to Franky’s excellent care, and the crews respect for their ship - whom they respectfully referred to as nakama, without a hint of laughter - but even so, no ship could continue on with that ‘new’-looking glossy sheen day after day unless the ship itself was helping to protect it. 

And that didn’t happen without a klabautermann. Possibly two.

Shakky smiled as she picked up the basket of fruit and began making her way down the stairs to the deck. With all that she had heard about the Going Merry - and having seen one of Franky’s creations in the Soldier Dock System - she had no compunctions about leaving the Sunny for another week if she had to. Between spirits, Flying Fish members and Kuma-chan, Sunny had no shortage of company for the time being.

Still, she was eager for the time when Monkey-chan and his crew returned, and she knew Sunny-chan would be even happier still. They were waiting, patiently for their family. 

Shakky reflected that babysitting wasn’t such a bad job. A laugh escaped her as she made her way back to the bar, looking forward to some fresh, home-made orange juice.

* * *

End

* * *

I hope you enjoyed!


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